


First Night

by Emily_F6



Series: Comfortember 2020 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Comfortember, Comfortember 2020, Female Peter Parker, Gen, Panic Attacks, Penny Parker - Freeform, Sequel, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, penny parker whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27483226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_F6/pseuds/Emily_F6
Summary: Written for Comfortember 2020: A sequel to my one-shot Trapped from Febuwhump 2019: Penny Parker Edition.  Penny spends her first night in the tower.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Comfortember 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008315
Comments: 6
Kudos: 129





	First Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! So this is comfortober day 2, first day/night. And a long time ago, someone (I can't remember if it was a review or on tumblr) asked me to write a sequel to the prompt Trapped from my Febuwhump 2019 Penny Parker Edition. And I knew that I wanted to do it. But it took me forever lol. Hopefully you like it, and the person who requested it likes it!

_First Night_

Penny curled up in her bed, knees pressed against her stomach, and stared out into the darkness of her new room. It was darker than her room in that place had been. Darker than the room where the man with an eyepatch had kept her. Nick. That's what Tony Stark had called him. That room had had a cot that was almost as hard as the one in the place she'd been before. But this bed was soft and warm, with blankets that wrapped around her like a hug...like the hug Tony had given her in the car, her head tucked under his chin and his arms warm and safe around her. Part of her had wanted to stay there, wrapped in his arms, safe and warm and comfortable and knowing that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

But another part of her had rebelled...had balked at what could be comfort or restraint. Tony or Mr. Stark or Iron Man or whatever she was supposed to call him must have noticed the change in her posture because he'd eased away, patting her back and smiling, dark eyes clouded with sadness that she vaguely remembered seeing in someone's eyes before. Her family? Did she have a family anymore? Tony had promised to find her family for her. Had promised to get her home. But when they'd arrived at a huge building, his car pulling into a garage, he'd explained that he wanted a doctor to look her over.

And then she'd gone away.

She'd known what doctors did to people...what the people in white coats carrying scalpels and needles had done to her. And the part of her brain that had wanted to trust him...that had wanted to believe that Tony Stark was Iron Man and thus wouldn't hurt her, had shut down. Penny remembered shaking her head, the word 'no' formed by her lips over and over, soundless and desperate. She remembered backing herself into the corner as best she could, wedging herself between the seat and the door, and Tony's hand reaching for her. His look of concern and words she couldn't hear over the rushing in her ears.

Penny remembered a short, hoarse scream when his fingers had made contact before quickly pulling away, and she remembered jerking away so forcefully that her head had slammed into the window, making a spiderweb of cracks appear in the glass. He'd jumped out of the car then, pulling open her door and reaching for her, and then...then she didn't remember anything else. Her mind had shut down and she'd closed her eyes, retreating into the deepest part of herself, behind the brick wall, behind a solid barrier, so solid that she sometimes found herself trapped there.

She'd done this before...had learned at some point, between the pain and the sickness and the drugs they'd given her, to retreat. To shut off her mind and live inside herself. To let the world fade away. At first, she'd gone into memories of her childhood. Happy memories. Sad memories. It didn't matter. And then those memories had seemed to fade away until even her own name was something she couldn't quite remember. All she knew were the drugs and the pain and the fear, all of it clouding her mind and making every day and every moment a living hell. So into her mind, into the dark blankness she would go. The daydreams had stopped happening right along with the memories, and she had found that she would lose long periods of time more and more often until she'd found herself in that room where the man with the eyepatch had watched her.

She didn't know how much time had passed between her ride in the car and the moment she woke in this bed, feeling strange and lightheaded, like she did when too much time passed between meals. She had blinked herself awake, staring blankly at the same walls she stared at now, only then, the curtains had been drawn, letting the meager light inside. Outside of the window, she had glimpsed far away buildings and trees, the sun sinking over the horizon. And she had wondered where she was for only a second before a familiar voice had spoken from a few feet away.

"Kid? You with me?" Tony Stark had sounded worried, which had confused her for only a moment before she'd remembered...his arms around her and his assurances that she wasn't trapped anymore. The feeling of safety warring with the ever present fear. The word 'doctor' falling from his lips and then her mind shutting off. The darkness.

Penny had sat up, wide-eyed, but he'd put up a hand.

"You're okay. We just brought you into the tower. Me and my bodyguard. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? I didn't mean to scare you. Everyone in this tower works for me. None of them would hurt you. You're in a guest room right now. The only people on this floor are you and me and my girlfriend. Pepper Potts. No one else can come up here."

Now Penny lay on the bed, wishing she'd spoken to him. Wishing that she'd been able to force her lips to form words. She knew how. She remembered, vaguely, as if peering through fog, that she used to talk a lot. That she would chatter along with her friends and in class when she could without getting caught and to her family. She had a family. Right?

Instead, she'd closed her eyes, lips pressed tightly together, practically holding her breath as if doing so would make him forget about her. Her body had reacted without her, trying to protect her from someone she didn't think would hurt her. They had punished her when she'd spoken until she worried that she'd forgotten how. She would lay in that cell on her too-hard cot, too afraid to even mouth words lest she face the pain of their punishments again. But she'd spoken to Tony, haltingly and in whispers. And he hadn't hurt her.

Eventually Tony had stood, tapping a finger against a silver domed dish on the table beside her. "There's some food for when you're ready to eat. If you need me, you can ask Friday. She's an AI…". He had trailed off, as if trying to figure out how to explain that. Deep in her mind, Penny had wanted to tell him that she knew what an AI was. Instead, she'd stared at the wall as he had softly explained that she could just ask the speaker to get him, or that she could leave the room if she wanted. That he would be in the living room right down the hall.

And then he'd left, and she'd shut down again, retreating like a turtle into her shell. She hadn't dared move. Hadn't even dared to look around, choosing instead to stay curled up on the bed, waiting. Waiting for pain or waiting for punishment. Instead, she must have slept.

When Penny opened her eyes again, the room was dark, and she was in the same position, curled up with her stiff muscles aching to move. But it was like she was locked into place. Beside her, within reaching distance was the food. And, as she reminded herself over and over again for several minutes, Tony had told her that she could eat. That she was allowed to leave the room. This wasn't her cell and this wasn't the room in the place where Tony had found her. This was his home. A tower...Avengers Tower. The name came to her, clicking neatly into place just like her name had.

He had said that it was okay to eat. So, after several minutes of assuring herself that it was okay, that she could do this, she pushed herself gingerly upright, looking around nervously before placing her feet on the floor. Her toes sank into the carpet as she reached out for the dome shaped dish, lifting it and finding a sandwich on a dish kept cool by an ice pack, and a bag of chips.

It seemed like she blinked and the food was gone, leaving her a little less hungry, but not full. It was the best food she'd had in...in however long her memory stretched back, but considering she'd only recently remembered her own name, it seemed her memory didn't stretch back very far.

Penny knew that she'd been a person. That once, she'd had a family and talked to friends and had known things! She'd been smart! Now she felt like a shell...like she was empty inside, and she didn't understand what was happening, and tears were running down her cheeks, breath catching, fingers digging into the bed and ripping into the mattress until she realized what she was doing and let go with a gasp.

The door to her room opened and she slammed her eyes shut, wrapping her arms around herself and shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she breathed, tucking her head down so it wouldn't hurt so much when they hit her. "Sorry sorry sorry…"

"Hey, kid...look at me," a voice she knew urged as the bed beside her dipped down. She followed the order on instinct, looking up to meet Tony's gaze without question. Punishments were always worse when she didn't obey right away. "You're not in trouble. It's okay. Just try and take some deep breaths, okay?" He was dressed in loose pants and a tank top and his hand hovered over her shoulder.

She wanted a hug again. Wanted arms tight around her, keeping her safe, so without letting herself think about it, she surged forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, hiding from the dark room and the memories of her life that seemed to hide behind a fog. Immediately he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and then reaching down to grab the blanket to drape over her.

"It's okay, Penny. You're okay. You're safe. I promise."

His words were soft and soothing and she didn't care what he was saying because she didn't know how to believe it anyway. All she knew was that she wanted to be safe. And with his arms around her, she was safe. His arms were like a cage...no...cages were bad. They were like...like the blankets on that bed, wrapping her up. A barrier. A barrier between her and the world.

The rest would come later. Venturing out of her room in the morning. The flood of memories that would hit her when she saw her aunt in the living room, the two of them sobbing and holding one another. The news that her uncle was gone...that he'd tried to stop those men from taking her. Tony's hand on her back as he would lead the two of them to sit on his sofa. And it would take a very long time for her to feel safe again. For her to feel like herself again.

But this, Tony's arms around her and his soft, murmured promises, was a good first step.

_**Thanks for reading!** _


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